Langston Is King Of Bercy

By Freelance | 11/10/2002 12:00 AM

South African Grant Langston is the King of Bercy 2002. The KTM factory rider won the final night's racing at the 20th annual Bercy Supercross, held in Paris today. In taking the final win, the 20-year-old was also rewarded with the King of Bercy crown. Langston went 2-2-1 for the three nights for five points, followed by Chris Gosselaar who went 1-9-6 for 16 points, and Travis Preston who finished after scoring 4-1-11 for 17 points.

While Langston won the individual award the American team easily won the teams award from France and Rest of the World.

The performance from Langston was his swansong from the 125cc class, a division he had dominated in Europe in 2000 and came so close to winning a National 125cc championship in 2001.

“I am still having some trouble with my knee,” Langston said. “It didn’t click on the first two nights, so I am happy to get the win on Sunday and the overall victory.”

Several of the lead riders suffered terribly on Sunday, including World 125cc Champion Mickael Maschio, who failed to appear in the points, while Preston was never in contention after finishing in 11th place.

The heat race wins went to Billy Laninovich on his KTM, Joakim Rodrigues, also on a KTM, and Andrew Short on a Suzuki. The two semifinals went to Spanish rider Edgar Torronterras (Yam) and Frenchman Serge Guidetty (Yam).